Jacqueline Kelly (1)
Author of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
For other authors named Jacqueline Kelly, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Jacqueline Kelly was born in New Zealand and raised in Canada. She is a practicing physician. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is her first novel. (Bowker Author Biography)
Series
Works by Jacqueline Kelly
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Kelly, Jacqueline Sue
- Birthdate
- 20th Century
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- New Zealand (birth)
- Places of residence
- Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
El Paso, Texas, USA
Galveston, Texas, USA - Education
- University of Texas School of Law
University of Texas Medical School at Galveston - Occupations
- physician
attorney
Members
Reviews
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
First off, what drew me to this book was the cover. It is absolutely gorgeous, and conceals so many important components of Calpurnia. I know, I know, "never judge a book by its cover" but I'm glad I did. I empathized so much with Callie who followed in her grandfather's footsteps and preferring to use her brain to study to natural world than her hands to sew or embroider. This book made me laugh, sigh with regret, want to scream and shake certain characters, and in the end, hope.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly follows the above mentioned young lady through her eleventh year in 1899. Calpurnia lives with her parents, grandfather and her six brothers. She has an interest in the natural world and her curiosity and questions eventually lead her to her notoriously cantankerous grandfather. He spends his days in his laboratory or out hunting specimens.
She and her grandfather bond over their shared interests and Calpurnia yearns to be able to have more freedom from the expectations that are placed upon her. She has no interest in cooking, cleaning or sewing but she is expected to perfect these skills for a future as a wife and homemaker. She dreams of being allowed to go to university and becoming a scientist. Although there is no resolution to Calpurnia’s dreams, it is clear that she is a determined, ambitious girl and I can imagine that she will definitely have a say in what her future will look like.
I found The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate to be an excellent coming-of-age story. The author succeeds in making Calpurnia unique and believable, and the writing is engaging with humor and style. Written for middle-grade children, this senior citizen fell under the spell of this delightful book… (more)
She and her grandfather bond over their shared interests and Calpurnia yearns to be able to have more freedom from the expectations that are placed upon her. She has no interest in cooking, cleaning or sewing but she is expected to perfect these skills for a future as a wife and homemaker. She dreams of being allowed to go to university and becoming a scientist. Although there is no resolution to Calpurnia’s dreams, it is clear that she is a determined, ambitious girl and I can imagine that she will definitely have a say in what her future will look like.
I found The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate to be an excellent coming-of-age story. The author succeeds in making Calpurnia unique and believable, and the writing is engaging with humor and style. Written for middle-grade children, this senior citizen fell under the spell of this delightful book… (more)
This story is set at the turn of the twentieth century in a small Texas town. The narrator is a likeable girl, and the ideas about Darwin and evolution that she learns from her grandfather are interesting, but the story itself moves incredibly slowly.
I loved and adored The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and was super excited to see that Kelly had written a second one. I bought it from BN as soon as it came out, but then it languished on my shelf a few a months as I got some other books out of the way.
I didn't love this as much as the first book, which isn't terribly surprising. Evolution was nigh perfection, and the joy I got from the story was watching Calpurnia discover the natural world.
In this book, there is less of that and more actual plot lines. One involves Travis, Calpurnia's animal-mad little brother who is determined to make every wild animal a pet. Another involves a hurricane that hits the city of Galveston, leading to a cousin moving in with the Tates. There are a few smaller plots but those are the two biggest ones.
One thing I noticed in this book which I hadn't before was that Kelly gave each of the Tate brothers a distinct personality and they were very easy to tell apart. This is not always the case in books, where characters are sometimes interchangeable. I greatly appreciated that.
There are still some simple explanations of science experiments, completely with illustrations and diagrams, for young readers to try and replicate. (Thumbs up. Hooray science learning!)
A nice, if not critical addition, to the further adventures of Calpurnia.… (more)
I didn't love this as much as the first book, which isn't terribly surprising. Evolution was nigh perfection, and the joy I got from the story was watching Calpurnia discover the natural world.
In this book, there is less of that and more actual plot lines. One involves Travis, Calpurnia's animal-mad little brother who is determined to make every wild animal a pet. Another involves a hurricane that hits the city of Galveston, leading to a cousin moving in with the Tates. There are a few smaller plots but those are the two biggest ones.
One thing I noticed in this book which I hadn't before was that Kelly gave each of the Tate brothers a distinct personality and they were very easy to tell apart. This is not always the case in books, where characters are sometimes interchangeable. I greatly appreciated that.
There are still some simple explanations of science experiments, completely with illustrations and diagrams, for young readers to try and replicate. (Thumbs up. Hooray science learning!)
A nice, if not critical addition, to the further adventures of Calpurnia.… (more)
Lists
Newbery Adjacent (1)
Female Author (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 8
- Members
- 4,324
- Popularity
- #5,803
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 251
- ISBNs
- 117
- Languages
- 13